5. which would be ironic, if true. I think some people just can't break the habit.

Once they like Chairman Mao and Che Guevera and all things communist...they naturally have leanings in that direction even though Putin is more your militaristic fascist dictator than anything resembling communism.

3. Pooty is an oppressive asshat,

4. Promoting Freedom: The Seven “Don’ts”

snip* Two headlines emerged from Freedom House’s just-released annual report, Freedom in the World: an eighth consecutive year of decline in democracy around the world and a leadership gap among the community of democratic nations, most notably the United States. Fifty-four countries registered declines in political rights and civil liberties, compared to only 40 countries that saw gains in those areas, according to the study.

Equally disturbing, the report decries the lack of pushback against the modern authoritarian challenge posed by regimes in Moscow, Beijing, and elsewhere and laments the receding role played in particular by the United States in supporting democratization around the world. “If there is no reassertion of American leadership,” the report notes, “we could find ourselves at some future time deploring lost opportunities rather than celebrating a major breakthrough for freedom.”

These two negative headlines beg the question about what is to be done. But instead of offering recommendations on what the United States needs to do, let me suggest a list of seven things we need to stop doing—seven “don’ts”, if you will. After all, one must end the harm that has been done to the cause of promoting freedom and human rights before one can proceed to any “to-do” list.

1. Don’t think that in today’s interconnected world threats to democracy and freedom elsewhere pose no threat to our own democracy and interests, or to those of our allies. The nature of regimes and societies matters, and threats to democracy, even in seemingly far-off places, can wind up hurting us.

2. Don’t fall for the false choice between staying out of difficult situations entirely, on the one hand, and sending in hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, on the other. There are many things we can do in between those extremes to support moderate, democratic forces—things like funding activists and showing solidarity by meeting with them and, yes, sometimes even limited military action (such as taking out Assad’s airstrips and planes, which we should have done long ago, when the Syrian opposition was less divided and not as extreme). This recommendation doesn’t mean putting troops on the ground. It would be nice to do this with allies, but the United States usually has to lead. (France’s positive role in Mali last year is an
important exception to that rule.)

6. Other.

I haven't read a single post here that supported Putin or his corrupt gov't passing barbaric, ugly laws. I have, however, seen many protesting the blaming of a whole nation of people who have no more control over the laws passed and their ugly consequences as do we here in the west.

33. Welcome to the club.

I've been labeled a bigot, a homophobe, a liar, banned a few times, had people engage in schadenfreude if I get locked out of my own threads. Not because I am any of those things, but because I don't support denigrating the Russian people during their time of the Olympics. And in the two weeks I've been pushing this issue, and through hundreds of posts, I think I've only met a handful (less than 5) DU'ers that have actually ever been there and experienced it first hand. It's pretty ridiculous as they have no first hand knowledge.

All these folks posting the beatings videos could easily find the same videos here in the US on Live Leak. Here's a simple example. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4e_1376852247 All kinds of crazy US citizens beating the shit out of each other.

37. Thanks for your posts, btw.

38. Par for the course I'd imagine. That's DU these days. Sadly. Politeness is out the window.

It's a touchy subject to breach. My wife is Russian and not happy about the new laws either but the Russian people as a whole don't deserve this treatment they are receiving from the West. They have had more suffering in their lives than many of these privileged posters have had to endure, of that I'm sure. And that goes for Russian people of all types.

32. What is the relevant number of the population who support the law?

What is the relevant number (based off an accurate and objective polling source) of the population who support the law? I would guess it's on par with Utah's support of the same type of civil rights violations, but you imply accurate knowledge rather than a guess, so what's the number and the source?

36. here you go

22. Oh, there's no doubt it's an oppressive, corrupt kleptocracy

one that Snowden/Greenwald have been notably silent from criticizing, but that's a discussion for another thread...

I can still put all that aside and celebrate the Olympics...You can make an excellent case on boycotting all Olympic games based on the legacy of IOC corruption alone, so I've never understood people getting into a tizzy over this or that host nation's policies...

25. The anti-gay pastor activist, Scott Lively: "Video Of Anti-Gay Violence In Russia Is A 'Hoax'"

Scott Lively is repeating his completely baseless claim that gay people are behind anti-gay violence in Russia, this time claiming that a Human Rights Watch video about attacks on gay people is “just another piece of deceptive Machiavellian ‘gay’ propaganda.”

The anti-gay pastor points to no evidence besides his own hunch video that several of the assaults seen in such video are likely staged as part of a larger “hoax.” In an article today on BarbWire, a website run by Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber, Lively writes:

Last Fall, on behalf of pro-family advocates here in the United States and Canada, I sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin thanking his government for passing a law protecting Russian children from “gay” propaganda. In that letter I offered this warning:

In readying your society to recognize and counter the efforts of the militant gay movement it is important to understand that their propaganda and policies adhere invariably to the narrative that all disapproval of homosexuality leads inevitably to hatred, violence and murder of homosexuals. All of the pro-homosexual policies in the United States and Europe rest on this unstated and unchallenged but fictional premise. Thus, the homosexualist movement is not simply seeking social tolerance, or acceptance, but political power and control. They want the power to stamp out all disapproval of homosexuality in your society and to compel every citizen (especially the youth) to embrace the view that homosexual conduct is good and normal…. In the coming months and years Russia and Her people will be increasingly portrayed by emotion laden and abusive hyperbole as bigoted haters, intent on exterminating homosexuals.

The Human Rights Watch video, released to coincide with the opening of he Sochi Olympics is fulfillment of my prophecy. I predict more will follow.